Nokia Shows off the Svelte N76

Nope, it's not coming to the U.S. anytime soon, but the folks at Nokia had the gorgeous N76 flip phone on display here at CTIA. Surprising thin and light for a Nokia phone (I'm testing the N73 candy bar right now, and trust me, it's a tank), the outside flip of the N76 has a semi-transparent mirror concealing a good-sized, full-color external display; the one I saw was showing a video, and it looked great.

Flipping the phone open, I was impressed again by the rich, razor-sharp 2.4-inch display, and the stylish keypad boasts wide, flat buttons that are easy to press. The N76's 2-megapixel camera is a step down from the 3-megapixel-and-up snappers I've been seeing on the most recent Nokia handsets, but the phone's UMTS data access—while not quite as fast as full-fledged HSDPA—is good for video streaming and speedy surfing, and the expandable memory slot takes microSD cards up to 2GB. While you might be able to pick up an unlocked version of the N76 through an import retailer, I'm told there are no plans for the N76 to come to a U.S. carrier. Ugh.

Nokia also had several of its new Eseries phones on display, including the E90 Communicator clamshell. The HSDPA-enabled smartphone comes loaded with the Symbian Series 60 OS, and zooming around the various menus was a pleasure. Typing on the slightly rubberized keys was no problem, and the E90's wide display looked as sharp as can be. All in all, quite nice—but again, no plans for the E90 to come to the States.

Still, there's some good news for U.S.-based Nokia fans. The N95 two-way slider with built-in GPS and a 5-megapixel camera will begin shipping here in the second quarter (it'll be on sale through Nokia's Web site, but not through a carrier), and the N75 multimedia clamshell—a slightly older and bulkier version of the N76—will get a U.S. carrier within the next few months.